Dettori and Kingscote revved up for the Bahrain International Trophy

Friday: Bahrain

Frankie Dettori and Richard Kingscote prepared for the fourth running of the Group 3 Bahrain International Trophy (1.05 GMT) with a spin around the local Grand Prix track in a pair of Renault Clio RS's on Thursday morning.

Dettori will also be hoping to go through the gears on his mount, the locally trained Dilawar, who changed hands for a hefty €500,000 at the Arqana sales only last month and is now in the care of Fawzi Nass, who won the 1m2f contest with Simsir in 2020.

Kingscote is booked to ride the Saeed bin Suroor-trained Passion And Glory for Godolphin, who are mob-handed with four of the ten runners in a bid to win it for the first time, with last year’s third Magny Cours (Mickael Barzalona) heading the blue team.

The Andre Fabre-trained seven-year-old was beaten three-quarters of a length when taking the minor placing behind Lord Glitters in the turf contest a year ago and won his prep race for a return on the all-weather at Chantilly last month.

Frankie Dettori inthe cockpit of his Renault Clio RS before heading out to the short track of the Bahrain International Circuit , home of the Bahrain Grand PrixBahrain 17.11.22 Pic: Edward WhitakerCredit: Edward Whitaker

Of his Godolphin counterparts, Saeed bin Suroor also fields last year’s eighth Dubai Future (Danny Tudhope) while Charlie Appleby relies on the tricky Royal Fleet (William Buick) who was last seen finishing second in a Listed race at Newmarket last month.

Bin Suroor said of his chances: “Both of them are doing well and they are rated similarly. I can’t see much difference between them. Dubai Future always tries hard. If the pace suits Passion And Glory, I think he also has a good chance. It’s an open race and any horse can win it.”

The runners hail from five different countries including Ireland, Dubai, France, Denmark and two from the home nation.

Insinuendo has trainer Willie McCreery optimistic of a first success for Ireland in the race. The five-year-old mare, who will be ridden by Oisin Orr, is a dual Group winner and was last seen finishing an excellent third to Emily Upjohn in the Group 1 Qipco British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes at Ascot last month.

Magny Cours on Thursday morningBahrain 17.11.22 Pic: Edward WhitakerCredit: Edward Whitaker

He said: “Insinuendo seems to love it here, she’s very relaxed and she’s training well. She’ll wear a hood. She’s worn it in her last two races. We thought two or three runs ago to leave the hood on her and it seems to have settled her to save that kick for the final couple hundred yards. There’s a good long straight to the track here, so if we can still be in contention turning in, we’ll be laughing.”

King David, trained by Niels Peterson, is a very interesting contender from Denmark and arrives in Bahrain in the form of his life after winning four races in a row. The other Bahrain-trained horse, Pensiero D’Amore, will be making his first start for trainer Mohammed Hassan and was formerly trained by Marco Botti.

The French pair Monty (Gerald Mosse) and Riocorvo (Olivier Peslier) complete the line-up.

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